This invention relates generally to loading dock shelters and is particularly directed to a lateral seal for a loading dock shelter which engages in a sealed manner the aft lateral portions of a van or truck using the loading dock.
A truck having an open rear doorway is typically backed into close positioning and in alignment with a building doorway for loading and unloading. The width of the truck body is typically the same standard width as that of the building doorway. A loading dock shelter is typically disposed about the doorway to form a seal between an aft portion of the truck and the building in order to isolate the interiors of the building and the truck from the outside environment during loading and unloading in providing an effective shelter for men and materials. These loading dock shelters afford effective sealing engagement between the shelter structure and a truck cooperatively engaged therewith. One example of such a loading dock shelter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,892,463, assigned to the assignee of the present application.
Loading dock shelters are generally classified into two different types: (1) those embodying resilient, compressible pad members, and (2) those making use of fabric or sheet material so as to form walls or curtains. In the former type of dock shelter employing resilient pads, a truck to be loaded or unloaded is backed into abutting contact with a wall mounted arrangement of resilient pad members which provide a seal around the aft peripheral edges of the truck. In the latter type of shelter, which is typically referred to as a "drape type" loading dock shelter, walls or curtains, which consist of fabric or sheet material supported in more or less a tentlike manner, are draped around a van in sealing engagement therewith. An example of the former type of loading dock shelter can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,142, while examples of the latter type of "drape" loading dock shelter can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,638,667 and 3,915,183, all assigned to the assignee of the present application.
Regardless of how tight the seal established between the loading dock shelter and the outer periphery of the truck, where the truck has hinge-type doors the gap between the truck body and an open door allows access of the outside environment to the loading area. To date, loading dock shelters have been unable to provide a seal for the inter-hinge gap of a truck being loaded or unloaded. In addition, prior art loading dock shelters whether of the "drape" type or of the resilient pad type have been able to provide only limited sealing engagement with the periphery of a truck for both an inclined as well as a declined loading dock approach or where the truck is misaligned or off center with respect to the loading dock shelter.
The present invention overcomes all of the aforementioned limitations of the prior art by providing sealed engagement with the aft edges of the body of a truck as well as with its hinge-mounted doors so as to seal off the gap therebetween. The hook seal of the present invention is further adapted to engage in a sealed manner the aft lateral periphery of a truck using the loading dock when the truck is misaligned and/or off center relative to the loading dock for a loading dock having either an inclined or a declined approach. The loading dock shelter hook seal is further adapted to sealingly engage the aft lateral portions of trucks having a wide range of body widths.